[hermit22]

All I can do at that one is shake my head. It's such a simplified, skewed version of reality. I mean, you don't even go into the Chileans who were killed by our puppet Pinochet because we thought Chile could become a Communist nation. But that's all in the past. What you're dealing with is the now, bringing up an argument for "regime change" that would appeal to the liberals, but that is not being used as a reason for this war; ignoring the specter of Bush's sudden sense of foresight-free empire-building.

Even though there is little talk of the argument you used, if a government imposes democracy on another people against their wishes, are they not as bad as what they're trying to stop?

And that "checked off by a democratic process" crap? Hardly. There are not the troops in the region or the proper conditions to attack Iraq at the present time. It was only pushed through now so that Democrats would have to approve it or miss losing votes to the misplaced patriotism that the Republicans thrive on these days. He knows that if this went through in December it would fail miserably. You wouldn't see any spectacles like the half-assed Gephardt buying votes with his yes vote.

And to MaggieL:
The only reason the SU was sending tanks into Afghanistan was to extend their influence into the country - which did not want them there. Saying they were inside the Soviet sphere would be like saying West Germany was.